Flexibles

The wrap-up: Surprising packaging

Unexpected pairings of product and package raise editors' and consumers' awareness.

January 31, 2006

Bakery/Snack: Page 59

Labels

Technical advances in RFID at hand

New advances in RFID include long-range HF tags, devices that work well with challenging substances, and tags that are sterilization tolerant.

December 31, 2005

Closures

Employing a 'scents' of smell

"The latest and greatest packaging innovations are packages that smell."

December 31, 2005

Bakery/Snack

Styrene box

Originally created to package prescription pharmaceuticals, the utilitarian shape of Continental Packaging’s Styrene Box is also suitable for daily supplements, office supplies, medicines/vitamins, jewelry and beads, fishing tackle, nuts, bolts, and washers.

December 31, 2005

Coding, Printing & Labeling

Privacy and RFID

Are privacy concerns about RFID valid or conspiracy-theory paranoid?

December 31, 2005

Coding, Printing & Labeling

Trans-fat labeling and Katrina

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita are now being blamed for limiting the availability of resin used to make plastic bread bags, prompting the American Bakers Association to request either a six-month extension of the January 1, 2006, trans fat labeling deadline or a six-month “enforcement discretion.” The storms also created obstacles for distribution of imported trans fat substitutes.

December 31, 2005

Dairy

FDA and FSIS discuss jurisdiction

FDA and the Food Safety and Inspection Service held a public meeting in Rosemont, IL, on December 15, 2005, to discuss ways to decide which agency regulates which food products when it comes to foods that contain meat and poultry ingredients.

December 31, 2005

Coding, Printing & Labeling

COOL labeling delayed

The FY 2006 Agriculture Appropriations bill passed by Congress in mid-November contained a provision delaying mandatory country-of-origin labeling for meat, produce, and peanuts until September 30, 2008.

December 31, 2005

Coding, Printing & Labeling

High-volume retailers pile demands on packaging

Retailers expect a lot from packaging, and few require more than club stores and other high-volume outlets.

December 31, 2005

Flexibles

Second cartoner speeds hurricane relief efforts

Machine allows Innotech to double the production and shipment of its self-heating meals to assist displaced victims and relief workers during last year’s disastrous hurricane season.

December 31, 2005

Coding, Printing & Labeling

Sensors printed onto packaging

New developments in printed electronics are having an impact on RFID.

November 30, 2005

Sustainability

Wal-Mart launches sustainable packaging initiative

How do you answer the CEO of the largest retail organization on earth when he lays down an environmental challenge?

November 30, 2005

Flexibles

Non-smudge bakery bag closures

Australia-based food manufacturer George Weston Foods (GWF) uses plastic tag closures from Kwik Lok to close its plastic film bread bags, but was experiencing some problems with ink smudging of date codes, price, and other product identification codes on the tags.

November 30, 2005